Finding a Good Way Home

Sid Kingsley has a voice that will stop you in your tracks. And he’s just getting started.

Kingsley grew up in a small town in Southeast Virginia called Branchville. “Nothing to do except start fires and play music,’’ he recalled. “I’m grateful for it now. I hated it when I was a kid. ‘Oh there’s no kids to play with. There’s nothing to do. I’m gonna go listen to records and play music.’ And that’s what I did.”

After studying at Chowan and Radford universities, and a stint in New York City that included his first live performance, Kingsley moved to Richmond in 2013. This past May, Kingsley released Good Way Home – an album that combines original compositions, covers and traditionals in a stunning swirl of keys, horns and strong, soulful singing. It’s earned him acclaim around town, and local stores are regularly asking his label, the nascent American Paradox Records, for restocks. It’s the kind of debut that makes you wonder, “How am I just hearing about him?”

I had the opportunity to explore that mystery by chatting with Kingsley at Cary Street Café, which happens to be where he met American Paradox founder (and guitarist for standout Americana group The Congress) Scott Lane.

I was playing “Moonshiner,” and Scott was in the audience. I wasn’t used to his approach because he [asked], “Do you want to come over to my house and play me some songs?” I knew who he was because of The Congress, [but] I didn’t really know what it was for. In the back of my head, I [thought] “What do you want? What’s your angle here?” Finally he [said] “Okay, this is what I’m doing. I’m starting a record label...” You could tell he’s the kind of guy who does stuff – who does what he says he’s going to do.

What was the process of recording Good Way Home like? How was working in Lane’s home studio?

We would go in there very relaxed, because it’s his living room. It’s his house. We’d make some tea… It was very organic. None of it was forced, and I never felt like we were rushed… when I had time, when he had time, I would go over there, and we probably knocked it out in a month. But the days we were in there, it was all focus… straight up drinking tea and just working. It felt really good. Just super-productive.

The covers you do on the album feel inventive in how they depart from previous versions. What’s your approach to interpreting songs?

If I cover a song, I don’t like doing [it] the way it’s already [been done]. I guess that’s a jazz, blues tradition. You never hear a standard the same way twice. And folk music in general – it’s up for interpretation and making it your own… especially with the John Prine tune [“Sam Stone”] and turning that into a minor tune. Because it’s such a sad song. Of course John Prine, with his wit, does it with major keys and makes it sound not as depressing, but those words are ridiculously depressing. I [thought] “Okay, let’s change that up.”

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I’ve read that your first experiences playing music involved learning the saxophone by listening to jazz records.

That was my whole childhood. My dad was a musician, but he always had great music. I remember hearing Maceo Parker on James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good).” I had just started playing saxophone, so I remember learning that lick. Then getting into big band stuff, like Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Chick Webb and all those people… And my dad was in a Dixieland band, so I heard a lot of Pete Fountain. He brought me home an album by Joshua Redman. On that album, he plays “I Got You (I Feel Good)” on saxophone – an instrumental version. “Who is this guy? Who is this guy into?” Then I got into Sonny Rollins, then it was John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon and all those guys… I was really late to the rock game and to the folk game.

What made you want to switch to the keys as your primary instrument?

I got disillusioned with the whole college thing, and that’s when I started [concentrating on] piano… I holed up in a room in my friend’s basement and practiced every day. It was just an intense focus. I really had no direction. It was just something I needed to do. “I’ll just stay down here and practice and something good is going to come from this.” Not really an ambition thing. It was something I felt like I had to do. It was in my system, and I needed to get it out.

I saw you’re participating in the upcoming recreation of The Band’s Last Waltz concert at The Camel. Which parts will you be playing?

I’m in the house band, and I’m singing “Ophelia.” Everybody’s singing on “The Weight.” “I Shall Be Released” – I’m doing a verse on that. We sat down and [talked about] what musicians would we like to come in and sing on what songs… I feel like we did a good job of putting people in songs that they would crush in.

I’ve seen that a few times… People assume that I’m influenced, and I’m trying to emulate some of these [singers]. Singing is totally a newer thing for me. It’s even newer than the piano, because I was definitely just playing piano and not singing at all. Super-bashful about it. I haven’t tried to emulate anyone vocally. Saxophone – I used to try to emulate Charlie Parker, Joshua Redman. But with my voice, I just sing. This is what I sound like.